Garmin watch sleep and 'body battery' data - useful or not?
Discussion
I've only had a watch for a few days, and I don't know if it needs to calibrate itself to my body patterns, but so far the sleep and body battery graphs just seem like nonsense.
The body battery shows me as stressed when I decide to walk up the stairs or empty the dishwasher, never mind if I forget to log the school pickup as an activity.
And the sleep tracking, while it shows some patterns of light sleep and REM, there are times when I was awake (because I walked downstairs, or woke up twenty minutes before it detected that I had) that show as light sleep, and the only deep sleep I got was for half an hour, fifteen minutes after I fell asleep at 11pm. Most of the night was made up of light sleep lasting 45-60 minutes.
edit - it even had me in REM sleep for twenty minutes after I had woken up and was just reading emails on my phone! Unless I did dream it.....
I know it shouldn't be something to warrant calling a doctor over, but is there any benefit to paying attention to these stats?
How do they detect REM sleep, is it just heart rate and whether my arm is moving about?
The body battery shows me as stressed when I decide to walk up the stairs or empty the dishwasher, never mind if I forget to log the school pickup as an activity.
And the sleep tracking, while it shows some patterns of light sleep and REM, there are times when I was awake (because I walked downstairs, or woke up twenty minutes before it detected that I had) that show as light sleep, and the only deep sleep I got was for half an hour, fifteen minutes after I fell asleep at 11pm. Most of the night was made up of light sleep lasting 45-60 minutes.
edit - it even had me in REM sleep for twenty minutes after I had woken up and was just reading emails on my phone! Unless I did dream it.....
I know it shouldn't be something to warrant calling a doctor over, but is there any benefit to paying attention to these stats?
How do they detect REM sleep, is it just heart rate and whether my arm is moving about?
I’ve had sleep monitors for years, and a barman for the last couple.
They IMHO are only really useful as a guide, ie you wake up feeling crap look at the sleep stats and see you’ve had a poor night and get on with your day. More than anything I look at patterns over time to work out what gives better stats and what gives worse (Alcohol does not give good sleep however much it makes it easier to sleep for example)
How tight your watch band is can influence the readings, lying in bed scrolling while still very relaxed will often count as sleep.
In summation they are useful as a guide but not much else
They IMHO are only really useful as a guide, ie you wake up feeling crap look at the sleep stats and see you’ve had a poor night and get on with your day. More than anything I look at patterns over time to work out what gives better stats and what gives worse (Alcohol does not give good sleep however much it makes it easier to sleep for example)
How tight your watch band is can influence the readings, lying in bed scrolling while still very relaxed will often count as sleep.
In summation they are useful as a guide but not much else
The sleep data isn't totally fool proof, but it is a good guide.
I find the body battery to be pretty good though - I can usually judge roughly what it's going to be by how I feel when I wake up.
My biggest issue with the sleep data is that it sometimes shows me as asleep when I know for certain I've been lying in bed totally unable to drop off, but it only has so many metrics to judge what state you are in. I do find it better than the fitbit I had previously.
I find the body battery to be pretty good though - I can usually judge roughly what it's going to be by how I feel when I wake up.
My biggest issue with the sleep data is that it sometimes shows me as asleep when I know for certain I've been lying in bed totally unable to drop off, but it only has so many metrics to judge what state you are in. I do find it better than the fitbit I had previously.
Having worn a garmin for a while, i've only just started looking at these metrics. No idea how good they all are, but as above. my watch absolutely knows when i have been drinking, and records my recovery pretty poorly. I too would also used it as a guide.
Last night i had a couple of glasses of wine, but sleep wise, i knew nothing from the moment i went to bed to the moment my alarm went off at 6am. My sleep score was average, but i would say i slept like a log. Perhaps the lack of REM sleep, or elevated heart rate due to drinking lowered my score? Despite sleeping well (my version of well) i woke up pretty pissy, and have been grumpy all day.
Last night i had a couple of glasses of wine, but sleep wise, i knew nothing from the moment i went to bed to the moment my alarm went off at 6am. My sleep score was average, but i would say i slept like a log. Perhaps the lack of REM sleep, or elevated heart rate due to drinking lowered my score? Despite sleeping well (my version of well) i woke up pretty pissy, and have been grumpy all day.
The Body battery and stress numbers are driven by your HRV (heart rate variability) number. The newer and more expensive Garmin's provide more detail on this value than the watch I currently own.
According to my watch my body is stressed after exercising, after eating, when driving, when ill and after an alcoholic drink. I can crash my body battery number during an evening out drinking, and it will not recover anywhere near like normal well while sleeping.
I don't know how the sleep data is detected but overall I only take note of the overall sleep time. It is pretty accurate but sometimes does over or under read
I have been using Garmin watches for years so I know what my numbers should be and when something is off eg resting HR. I don't know how long it takes get in sequence with your body or if you are just discovering what is really happening to you on a day to day basis. You'll only know this over time.
According to my watch my body is stressed after exercising, after eating, when driving, when ill and after an alcoholic drink. I can crash my body battery number during an evening out drinking, and it will not recover anywhere near like normal well while sleeping.
I don't know how the sleep data is detected but overall I only take note of the overall sleep time. It is pretty accurate but sometimes does over or under read
I have been using Garmin watches for years so I know what my numbers should be and when something is off eg resting HR. I don't know how long it takes get in sequence with your body or if you are just discovering what is really happening to you on a day to day basis. You'll only know this over time.
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